The top contestants on the show are signed to Sony BMG, and 19 gets 10% of their recording revenue. "[9], On February 8, 2011, Sillerman announced an agreement to acquire control of Gateway Industries, Inc. (GWAY.PK). But instead of a billion-dollar acquistion, Sillerman wiped out hundreds of millions in investor money and eventually had to file for bankruptcy. Take a walk through Elviss home with the throngs, and the feeling you get is reverential. Last month, the company reported a second quarter net loss of $48 million on revenue of $121 million, up 48% from the same period last year. [36] Sillerman was also a donor and fundraiser for the Democratic Party in the United States. By day he majored in political science, while by night in 1966 he launched Youth Market Consultants, offering fellow students discount magazine subscriptions while advising marketers on how to target the teen set. Backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, 1956: Elvis with the host and manager Parker (left).CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images. He passed away in his sleep on Sunday at the age of 71. Robert F.X. Sillerman stood stone-faced on the cover of Billboard magazine. At first, advertisers and investors flocked to the new SFX. In September 2016, U.S. district court judge Colleen McMahon ruled there was evidence that Sillerman likely misrepresented the go-private plan to inflate the companys price and allowed a lawsuit by investors with the Guevoura Fund to move forward. Sillerman already has 18 acres on the Strip through MJX, a real estate company he controls. Young Sillerman graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis in 1969 after becoming immersed in counterculture politics and rock & roll. Clear Channels stock, which hit a high of $95 in 2000, is trading at $32. In a July 2009 interview with the New York Post Sillerman admitted failure, stating with reference to the Flag project: "I'm not very knowledgeable about real estate. This year, he agreed to pay a $179,000 fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors of another of his companies, Function(x). Sillerman became one of the most intriguingand wealthiestmen in music by twice betting on his vision for the future of mass media. You may opt-out by, 2013, the day his company went public. Robert Francis Xavier Sillerman was born on April 12, 1948, in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale in a very typical, liberal, educated Jewish household, according to the 2011 book Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalpedby Dean Budnick and Josh Baron, which secured an interview with Sillerman. Robert Franklin Sillerman was born in Manhattan on April 12, 1948, to Michael McKinley Sillerman, a radio and television executive, and Estelle (Levande) Sillerman. He replied with an email that said, Can I borrow a dollar? Estopinal said. Robert F.X. Robert F.X. Today about 600,000 visitors make the pilgrimage to Graceland each year (30% from abroad), paying between $22 and $55 apiece. Sillerman Dies at 71; Built Entertainment Empires, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/arts/music/robert-fx-sillerman-dead.html. In 2000 he sold a company that owned concert venues to Clear Channel for a reported $3 billion. He made billions of dollars in two huge sales, but died in bankruptcy, pursued by the government and suffering the painful complications of a decade of throat cancer, eating out of a feeding tube and findingit increasingly difficult tobreathe. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. A version of this article was originally published in the December 12, 2005 issue of Fortune. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. That means $125 million out of the $306 million paid for these two companies exceeds any tangible assets, including the value of trademarks. Sillerman was born into a media household, raised in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and attended top private schools in New York City. At that time it was very exciting, but the mergers didnt work in the U.S. in the way we thought they would, Finkel said. At the time of the companys formation, Sillerman boasted of his ability to go toe-to-toe with Live Nation Entertainment, the live events behemoth which was formed out of the firm he sold to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion in 2000. Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter, had sold the majority of Elvis Presley Enterprises, . I dont know whether its directed at a specific individual, or a type of individual, or more as my interpretation of Albert Einsteins fabulous quote: No problem can ever be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. And thats what Ive done my whole life. Meet the Women in Music Honoree Who Escaped the IronCurtain, Manson Accusers Recantation Cant Be Used for Now in Case Against Evan Rachel Wood, JudgeSays, Fadia Kader Joins Venice Music as EVP &GM. We cured him. By 1985 the pair had accumulated some 70 stations, which they sold for some $50 million. ), Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE.Henny Ray Abrams AFP/Getty Images. The company controlled the rights to booking the venue but did not own it. Former SFX Entertainment founder Robert Sillerman has agreed to pay a $179,000 fine after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the businessman with fraud and illegally diverting fund Because American Idol is whats known as event programming, meaning that because its a contest, you almost have to watch it live. When presented to the public--and later, Wall Street--the plan for SFX Entertainment seemed simple enough: roll up local EDM event organizers under one umbrella organization that could drive profits by providing structure and efficiency. He graduated from Brandeis in 1969 and, three years later, sold Youth Marketing Consultants to Ingalls, an advertising firm in Boston. That company was also called SFX. DJ Afrojack (left) and Sillerman at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York in 2013. We want to make money both by selling tickets and by putting a live audience in front of Madison Avenue, he said in an interview in 1998. Sillerman, 57, a Wall Street operator with a long history of minting money in the media business. Dressed in all black, the music mogul--who once appeared on the 2005 Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $975 million--held a disco ball that had been colored in gold and silver to represent the earth. His cost basis on these shares? Sillerman told Estopinal he had $1billion to spend on the rollup on an S-1 form announcing the IPO of SFX, Sillerman listed holdings that included online marketplace Beatport, the American-arm of Dutch company ID&T that produced festivals Tomorrowland and Sensation, Electric Zoo founders Made Events, German promoteri-Motion and Australias Stereosonic festival producer Totem Onelove Group. Even so, Sillermans 47% stake is worth some $400 million. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil; Douglas Elliman, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Inside the Hamptons trailer park thats become a playground for millionaires, Kevin Loves model wife goes house-hunting after Heat deal, See Ashton Kutchers Your Place or Mine building in NYC, Mark Wahlberg finally sells mansion after massive $32M price cut. [6], In 1978 Sillerman and disc jockey Bruce Morrow bought two radio stations in upstate New York for $1.875 million. But if you walk down the street, youll be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesnt know what it is. The hotel, Sillerman and Soden say, is just screaming to be expanded, upgraded, and replicated in other locations. He died on November 24, 2019 in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, USA. He was also starting to run afoul of the SEC an audit by the firm BDO of his company Function(x)found that Sillerman allegedly broke the law when he transferred $6.1 million into his own personal account and withdrew $500,000 in cash with no explanation and no supporting documentation. Sillerman settled the case with the SEC in June, agreeing to a $179,000 fine and a ban from holding an officer or director role at any public company. Recognizing the environment she was raised in, I thought she was astounding. Sillerman, Concert Industry Consolidator, Dies at 71 By Roy Trakin Mark Chilvers/The Independent/Shutterstock Robert F.X. Try A Different OS, Get Vaccinated? I have never had one single boring day., CKX has a 90-year lease on Elviss home.Richard Berkowitz Getty Images, Soden, who will continue running EPE in the new company, enhanced the Elvis business by expanding into merchandising and licensing. Entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman is facing foreclosure on his $16 million Upper East Side town house for defaulting on a $12.5 million loan since 2015, a new lawsuit claims. Inspite of the distractions, he explained that he is 100% committed to do a deal to take SFX private and is in robust conversation with several people that want to participate with him. In some ways, thats good news for Sillerman and SFX: the cost of talent is no longer skyrocketing. Function (x) Founder Education Robert FX Sillerman studied at Brandeis University. When SFX went public in Oct. 2013, businesses the company owned or was in the process of acquiring earned $14.6 million in adjusted EBITDA on combined revenue of $239 million. [38] The dispute was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Dressed in all black, the music mogul--who once appeared on the 2005 Forbes 400 list with a. Another show with legs? (Hicks Muse agreed to spin this business off to SFX shareholders.) Sillerman was eventually pushed out of the company by creditors and it re-emerged as LiveStyle in 2017 with entertainment veteran Randy Phillips at the helm. At the time it was the largest gift ever received by an alumnus to the university. 1 hit in more than two dozen countries, including the U.S.) And Elvis impersonators are still fixtures in everything from movies to corporate events. Though these unfortunate events have more to do with the young generation experimenting with different ways of altering their consciousness while listening to music than the music itself, MDMA-based drugs have a certainly become a part of EDM culture. With a market value of $1.1 billion, is CKX overvalued? Robert F.X. Elvis was available. (Note: CKX also recently bought MBST, a small talent agency in L.A., which does advisory work for the Beatles company, so stay tuned.) These are Sillermans strengths: identifying trends in the media business before others, then gathering and deploying capital to make the strategy work. Elvis's 37-year-old daughter and heir, Lisa Marie, has . Bob went out and taught salespeople; I taught the on-air staff. 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